Judith Lang Zaimont Elegy for Strings to be Performed by Mississippi Symphony on September 16 - Composer is Featured Speaker and Will Have Major Piano Work Performed at College Music Society Conference in San Antonio on Same Day New York, NY - American composer Judith Lang Zaimont's 'Elegy for Strings' will be performed by the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Crafton Beck, Music Director and Conductor, on Saturday, September 16, 2006 - 7:30 PM at Thalia Mara Hall, 255 E Pascagoula St. in Jackson, Misssissippi. Other works on the program include Berlioz' 'Roman Carnival Overture', Schumann's Cello Concerto (with guest soloist Daniel Gaisford) and Respighi's 'Pines of Rome'. The Mississippi Symphony Orchestra is the predominant performing arts ensemble in the state, fortified by a strong complement of musicians, a dynamic conductor, a dedicated Board of Directors, and Symphony League volunteers. The staff manages the operating budget of $1.5 million. A vital partnership has been forged between the MSO and the state it serves. After more than 60 years, the MSO remains Mississippi's greatest cultural force. Visit them online at http://www.msorchestra.com. 'Elegy for Strings', written in 1998, was premiered in that year by the New York Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Raffael Adler, conductor and has also been performed by the Women's Philharmonic of San Francisco, the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra of Moscow, Russia, the Czech Radio Orchestra of Prague and the East Texas Symphony. The work has been recorded by the Czech Radio Orchestra for Arabesque Recordings. Tickets for this concert are $40 and $25, with discounts for children and seniors, and can be ordered from the MSO at http://www.msorchestra.com/index.php?pageID=3Dtickets_single or by calling 601-960-1565. Also on September 16 at 10:30 AM, Judith Lang Zaimont will be giving the Robert Trotter Lecture: 'Imaging the Composer in 2006', as part of the College Music Society National Conference at the Crowne Plaza Riverwalk Hotel in San Antonio, Texas. Another feature of the conference will be a September 15 - 3:30 PM performance by pianist Amy Tarantino of Ms. Zaimont's 'Wizards - Three Magic Masters'. This performance in San Antonio is especially significant as the piece was commissioned in 2003 as the required work for that year's San Antonio International Piano Competition For more about the CMS Conference, please visit http://www.music.org/cgi-bin/showpage.pl. Composer Judith Lang Zaimont is internationally recognized for her distinctive style, characterized by its expressive strength and dynamism. Recent accolades include a 2003 Aaron Copland Award, and a 2005-6 Artists Fellowship from the Bush Foundation, and the 2006-7 Kaplan Foundation wind ensemble commission; appointments as Commissioned Composer of the California Music Teachers Association, Commissioned Composer for the International San Antonio Piano Competition, and Honored Composer at the 11th Van Cliburn International Competition (2001). Two new CDs of her music are now available: 'Pure Colors', solo music and other works for small ensembles (Albany Music - Troy 785) and 'Sacred Service for the Sabbath Evening' and other major choral/orchestral works (Naxos 8.559444) Among her many earlier honors are a Guggenheim Fellowship, artist's grants from both National Endowments (Arts and Humanities), and First Prize in the international 1995 McCollin Competition for Composers (for 'Symphony No. 1', performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1996). Her music is widely performed throughout the U.S. and Europe and has been recorded for the Naxos, Koch International Classics, Arabesque, Milken Family Foundation, Albany, Jeanne, Leonarda, Northeastern, and 4Tay labels. Her principal publishers are MMB Music, Inc., Galaxy/ECS, Vivace, Jeanne, C. F. Peters, Lyra and Walton. Her music has been widely documented (12 doctoral papers to date), and her biography is found in most standard reference works (e.g., New Grove's). Zaimont works are cited on two 'Best of the 20th Century lists' (Chamber Music America; Piano & Keyboard Magazine), and she is the subject both of individual chapters in specialist volumes and major articles in professional journals. Judith Zaimont also brings outstanding academic credentials to her musical activities, having served for many years as a distinguished composition teacher at New York's Queens College and Adelphi University, Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory, and Minneapolis's University of Minnesota School of Music. More information about Ms. Zaimont, including sound clips of many of her compositions, is available at her website http://www.jzaimont.com/. She is represented by Jeffrey James Arts Consulting, who can be contacted at 516-586-3433 or at [log in to unmask] Jeffrey James Arts Consulting Website: http://www.jamesarts.com